Hold on to HOPE

First of all, warm wishes of Easter to you and your families from all of us here at Servi. On Easter as we remember and celebrate the resurrection of Jesus, it is also an opportunity to contemplate the core message of this day. That is the fact that there is always HOPE.

It's already April and I can't believe how quickly time is flying by and can't help but look ahead to another year filled with plenty of interesting events. The better part of the first few weeks of 2017 was spent making some significant changes to our business structure and a great deal of exciting goodies are in the pipeline. This includes new quotes, new tees, new products and a few new custom merchandising partnerships that we are really thrilled about. However, being Fairtrade and a small business means that we are taking little extra time than big players to get these products out to the public, which is perfectly okay. We also took some time to think about the road ahead, specifically to prioritise our goals for the year and to streamline our focus.

That being said, we have decided the following as one of the main objectives for this year: a focus on Hope.

There is so much going on in the world. All you need to is just switch on the news in the morning or scroll through your newsfeed on Facebook to know what all is wrong with the world. Yet, does this mean that we are living through a bad time in history? I don't think so. There has always been tragedies, problems and worries in the world. Nevertheless, humanity has always discovered ways to overcome it. Unfortunately, today's media fail to cover, to greater extent, stories of progress and overcoming evil. That is why we want to focus on hope for this year. We want to let everyone know that yes, we are hopeful. Everything we are going to do this year will be centered around the theme of Hope. This means that you will see a few new designs with quotes on, you guessed it, Hope! So keep an eye out for these exciting and hopeful designs!

Viktor Frankl, an Austrian neurologist, psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor, wrote accounts of his experiences as a concentration camp inmate in his book Man’s Search for Meaning. He states that his experience in the concentration camp led him to discover the importance of finding meaning in all forms of existence, even the most brutal ones, and thus, a reason to continue living. He points out that people in these horrible circumstances reacted in radically different ways. Some killed themselves, others praised God even as they walked into the arms of death. As Frankl remarked, "He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how" (Man’s Search for Meaning, 121).

Humanity needs hope to keep going. We all need a hope that doesn't depend on results. We all need a very profound ‘why’ to face almost any ‘how’s in our lives. So perhaps this year, we can inspire you to join us in exploring that 'why' this year.

“I plead with you – never, ever give up on hope, never doubt, never tire, and never become discouraged. Be not afraid.”– Pope John Paul II